Australia - Fraser Island - 4x4s, Lake McKenzie, Eli Creek, Maheno Shipwreck, Indian Head and Dingoes

When I had arrived in Australia, I wanted to make the most of the spare time I had before needing to start working. The perfect trip at that time seemed to be an East Coast adventure, going to the Whitsundays and Fraser Island. I had remembered stories from my cousin about Fraser, and had always wanted to go. At the time, G Adventures had the best trip on offer, so I booked up!

So after a lovely couple of days in Brizzy, it was time to meet my new group of adventurers. I chose the trip with G Adventures, as this is usually a younger crowd. And I was right! There were 19 girls mostly under the age of 30, and one guy Partha, not including our guide Paul. There was a mix of nationalities though, English, South African, Indian, French, Swedish and German. Most of the girls however were 19 and Norwegian.

This was the first time I had been in such a large group of girls, and I was unsure at first if I was going to enjoy the trip. I thought there would be a lot of drama, but in the end, there wasn't really! They were a great bunch to travel with. I am only sad I had not been on the full trip with them, I came half way through, so they had all gotten to know each other beforehand.

First stop on our trip was Fraser Island. We got the bus to Rainbow Beach and met our local tour guides Cory and Michael. They were part of Nomads, and I can't recommend them enough! We transferred into 4x4s and made sure to stop by the Bottleo to get alcohol for the trip. Then we headed to the ferry. Below is where the ferry picked us up!

I was in the car driven Michael, who owns Nomads in Noosa, and Nola, Mary and Elisabeth. We had the best car as it wasn't too squashed and we could all sit forwards. The best way to get around on Fraser is by 4x4 as there are no roads, just sand.

We powered through to Lake McKenzie, and had to travel some very bumpy sandy roads to get there. As you can see, at this point the weather was brilliant...

Then we got to the Lake, and the weather changed. It became very rainy. Although still beautiful, it was a shame. We still went into the water, which was so clean and the sand was so fine. You can clean you teeth and wash your hair in the water. The sand is so fine and white.

I loved the exposed tree roots.

It was time to leave and make sure we got to our camp before sunset. We boosted it along the Seventy Five Mile beach and made it to the campsite. For some odd reason I never took a photo of it, but it was complete luxury. We had proper canvas tents, with raised beds. And there was an area where we could all sit and have our dinner and drinks. Although luxury, we had to ensure we had a dingo buddy, as we were in an area where the dingoes lived.

The sky at night on Fraser seemed way more brighter than usual.

The next day was an early one, as we wanted to make the most of the weather as it was still good. On our way to our first destination we got a good look at the Maheno Shipwreck.

Then we rocked up to Eli Creek, which is an incredible place. Cory, our Fraser Island guide, has the knack of getting us to all the places before anyone else did. He was a typical blond surfer guy, who is also a musician and walks around with no top on. Life is hard eh :) Aside from this, the dude was incredibly smart and knows the island inside out, as he grew up here. It was obvious he loves this part of the world, and wanted us to experience it in the best way possible.

Again, as you can see, the water is incredibly clean and pure, and Cory told us we were swimming in 100 year water which had filtered through from the mainland. We went down a few times and had the entire place to ourselves.

Most of the group decided to sunbathe, and there was a line of about 13 girls at one point.

Next stop was a closer look at the Maheno Shipwreck, which was beached all the way back in 1935. As you can see, it has disintegrated much since then, and we were not allowed to go too close to it for safety reasons.

I was fascinated by the varying colours of the rust in contrast to the turquoise sea and the sand.

Our next stop was so see the coloured sands.

Then it was onto Indian Head. This was called so by Captain Cook, as when they went past in their ship they saw the local people on the rock. In those days, all native people were referred to as Indians. This spot creates a fantastic lookout, and I am pretty sure I saw a turtle in the waves. I decided to climb it without any shoes on. Potential error, but it was quite liberating not wearing any shoes! Usually you can see all the sharks from the top, mostly tiger sharks, but this time we didn't.

A little further on was the Champagne Pools, called so because the sea frothing over the barriers makes bubbles. Again, we were here by ourselves for a good amount of time.

Indian Head in the distance, and Nola in the front :)

When we got back to camp, some of us grabbed alcohol and headed to the beach.

Although I had seen dingoes around the island, this was the first time I had seen them up close. The people in the distance were fishing. The young dingoes were trying to get their bait and catches. Not only were those people standing in shark infested waters, they were also being watched by dingoes! No thanks!

One decided to have a wee nosey at what we were doing. When they discovered there was no food, he walked off. They are really cute, but I would never try to touch a dingo! The dingoes on Fraser Island are actually the most thoroughbred and pure dingoes in the whole of Australia, as they have never mixed with other dogs.

We finished up and headed back to the camp to make dinner. It was turning into such a fun last night and then an unfortunate accident happened. After dinner, there was still some cake left. As I leaned over to greedily take another slide, Partha was mid story telling and shot his hand into the air. His fingers went right into my eye socket, and I thought I had been blinded. I think I was more in shock rather than pain, and had to be taken to bed. Thankfully Janet who was in my tent was a doctor, and made sure my eye was clean and I was ok. I went to bed and missed out on our last night in Fraser :(

We got up early the next morning to head back to the mainland. I was sad to be leaving Fraser that day, as the weather was amazing. Cory even ran into the sea to cool down. I had the best time on the island, despite the eye accident. I want to come back here again at a different time of year, and explore some of the other lakes on the island.

The best parting gift to the island was the tracks our vehicles had made. They were the only traces we had left behind, as it is important to keep beautiful places the way they are.